Integrated lighted push button switch device

ABSTRACT

A push-button switch-actuating mechanism is integrated with one or more switch units by adding on the switch unit or units to the actuating mechanism. Detachable connections between the actuating mechanism and the unit or units enable one or more units to be added on in tandem. Latch means in the actuating mechanism enables it to be maintained in actuated position on one operation and released by the next operation. Latching and releasing springs of hairpin type constitute a novel part of the actuating mechanism.

United States Patent Dennison [54] INTEGRATED LIGHTED PUSH BUTTON SWITCHDEVICE [72] Inventor: John J. Dennlsim, Southington, Conn.

[73] Assignee: Arrow-Hart, lnc., Hartford, Conn.

[22] Filed: Aug. 13, 1969 [2]] Appl. No.: 849,771

[451 July 11, 1972 3,334,209 8/1967 Hill et al. ..200/167 A FOREIGNPATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,050,861 2/1959 Germany ..200/168 K PrimaryExaminer-H. 0. Jones Attomey-Dayis, l-loxie, Faithfull & l-lapgoodABSTRACT A push-button switch-actuating mechanism is integrated with oneor more switch units by adding on the switch unit or units to theactuating mechanism. Detachable connections between the actuatingmechanism and the unit or units enable one or more units to be added onin tandem. Latch means in the actuating mechanism enables it to bemaintained in actuated position on one operation and released by thenext operation. Latching and releasing springs of hairpin typeconstitute a novel part of the actuating mechanism.

2Clains,llDrawingFigures PA'TENTEDJUL 1 1 19: 2 3, 6,7 6.6 3 0 sum 2 OF2 FIRST LATCH .POSIT SECOND DEPRESSION DEPRESSION BUTTON RETU ED LATCHRELEASING IN V EN TOR.

John J. 08/7/7/50/7 By Dow's, Hox/le, Fafihful/ 8 Hapgoad Aim/haysINTEGRATED LIGHTED PUSH BUTTON SWITCH DEVICE This invention relates toelectric switching devices and more particularly to push-button actuatedswitching devices in which the button is illuminated from within and maybe pushed to actuate one or more switch units which can be added on to abasic push-button unit as occasion requires.

It is an object of this invention to provide an integrated combinationof switch units including a basic operating unit comprising apush-button illuminated from within which is depressible to operate theswitch units.

Another object is to provide a basic unit for use in the foregoingintegrated combination which unit may be adapted for momentarypush-button actuation or for latching the push button upon onedepression and releasing it upon the next depression.

Another object is to improve upon the construction of the basic unit andswitch units of integrated combinations thereof, to lower themanufacturing cost while maintaining and enhancing reliability ofoperation.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear as theinvention is described in connection with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a device embodyingthe invention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a transverse section view along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a transverse section view along line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal section view similar to FIG. 2 but taken alonga plane at right angles to the plane along which FIG. 2 was taken;

FIG. 6 is a side elevation view of a switch unit alone, rotated 90 fromits position in the assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a bottom end view of the basic unit of FIG. 1 with the switchunit removed;

FIG. 8 is a transverse section view taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is a side elevation view of the actuating unit;

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of the invention of FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a series of diagrammatic views showing the latching parts ofthe invention in different positions with certain of the parts brokenaway.

Referring to the drawing, the invention comprises a molded insulatingbody or shell with a central aperture and a laterally enlarged head 21which has a recess 22 therein for reception of 'a molded push button 23made of translucent insulating material. The recess may be circular orrectangular or of any convenient configuration to receive an enlargedhead of the push button which head may be round as illustrated in FIGS.5 and 10 or of other convenient configuration. FRom the head of the pushbutton, a pair of parallel resilient legs 23' extend into the centralaperture of the shell body 20, extending along opposite sides of thecentral aperture in shallow longitudinal recesses. The ends of theselegs have outwardly extending teeth 23: which are adapted to engagebehind shoulders in the interior walls 20 formed at the inner ends ofthe aforesaid longitudinal recesses in which the legs 23 slide. When thebutton is assembled, its legs are inserted into the central recess ofthe shell body 20 and slide down its walls until the teeth 23: snapbehind the shoulders. The button is thus held in the shell body 20. Theshoulders and teeth are so located that they interengage before the head23 of the button abuts the bottom of the recess 22 so that the buttonmay still slide into the body further after the teeth are behind theshoulder. This allows the button to be depressed to actuate switches aswill more fully appear later.

To illuminate the push button, an electric light bulb 24 is held in thebody 20 behind the button. To hold the bulb, a holder 25 is providedformed of a pair of oppositely facing resilient curved arms 25a stampedfrom thin resilient sheet metal with a straight narrow temiinal strip 26extending perpendicularly from their connecting portion as may beobserved in FIGS. 10, 5, 3 and 2. The shell contact of the bulb isembraced by the bulb holder arms 250. To engage the center contact ofthe bulb, a flexible stamped sheet metal contact has a narrow, flat,short finger 27 bent inwardly of the shell body from a flat longerterminal arm 28 which extends along the interior wall of the body 20(see FIG. 5) toward the end opposite the terminal button 23 through apassage so that the arm 28 can extend beyond the end of the body 20.Likewise the terminal 26 extends along the interior wall of the body 20in diametrically opposite position and extends out beyond the end of theshell body 20.

A generally cylindrically molded insulation end-body 40 abuts the end ofthe shell body 20 It is held in abutting position by the terminal legs26, 28 which extend through passages 42 and 43, respectively, andthrough rectangular slots in small flat securing plates 44 (FIG. 7) thatseat against the transverse shoulders or recesses molded in oppositepositions in the outside wall of the end-body 40. To maintain pans inassembled position, small rectangular resilient latching fingers 26s,28s are lanced out of the terminals 26 and 28 with one end pressed outof the plane of the terminal while the other end remains attached to itso that when the terminals are pushed through the slots in the resilientsecuring washers or plates 44, the fingers snap out and prevent returnmovement or withdrawal, thus maintaining the parts in assembledposition. The plates 44 are resilient and are slightly bent or bowed soas to press parts 40 and 20 together when held by the legs 26 and 28.

Within the shell body 20 near the end opposite the button, there is atransverse bridge portion 20b having openings 20a in diametricallyopposite positions. Between this bridge and the end of the shell body,actuating member 30 slides. The actuating member is made of moldedinsulating material where the opposite shoulders 31 extending alonglengthwise within the shell body in slidable engagement with theinterior walls of the shell. The shoulders 31 are connected by atransverse portion 32 midway along their length. A circular knob 33 isformed on the side of the transverse part opposite the button andcoaxial with the shell body. From this knob a cam finger 34 extendslengthwise away from the button end, being located in a position ofisetfrom the axis of the knob. On the end of the finger 34, divergentlyinclined cam faces 34', 34" are formed. See FIG. 5 and the diagrammaticFIGS. Ila-d. The cam faces are positioned to engage different parts oflatch and release springs as will hereinafter more fully appear. Theactuator 30 is normally biased toward the button end of the shell by acoiled compression spring 35 coaxial with the knob and pressing againstthe transverse part 32.

The actuator 30 is depressed each time the button 23 is depressed byreason of the button arms 23' engaging the actuator shoulders 31.Depression of the actuator 30 causes depression of a molded insulationplunger 50 that is slidably mounted in the end-body 40 and is designedto operate switch contacts in the switch units 60 that are adapted to beadded on the end-body 40 as will now be described.

The switch unit may be formed of two cooperating cylindrical insulatingbodies 61 and 62 which are secured together by rivets or in any otherconventional manner. The bodies 61, 62 are recessed to receive fixed andmovable switch contacts which are engageable and disengageable aspressure is applied to the movable contact. The contacts may be eithernormallyopen or normally-closed or a combination of them and there maybe one or more sets of fixed contacts to be engaged by the movablecontacts selectively as requirements and usage may dictate. As anexample, only, and not as a limitation on the invention, a conventionalnormally-closed switch is illustrated in FIG. 6 wherein a pair of fixedcontacts 64, 65 are engaged by a bridging contact 66 which is mountedloosely on a reciprocatable shaft 67 around which a compression 68 iscoiled and pressures at one end against a fixed part of the insulatingbody 62 and at its other end against the bridging contact to bias itagainst the fixed contact in normally closed position.

An enlargement upon the head of shaft 66 causes the bridging contact tomove away from the fixed contacts and to compress the spring 68 when thehead (left end 6) is pushed by an extension on the plunger of the basicoperating unit 50. The other end of the shaft 67 extends beyond the bodypart 62. There is an aperture in the end of the other body-part 61 topermit entrance of an operating member of the basic unit, such as theextension on the end of the plunger 50.

To enable quick attachment and detachment of one or more switch units tothe end-body 40 of the basic unit, the switch unit has riveted orotherwise attached to the end of the body 61 a stamped sheet metalattachment member comprising a disc-shaped plate 69 from diametricallyopposite sides of which a pair of parallel arms 69a are bent upperpendicularly thereto in a position to lie along the sides of theend-body 40 when the switch is in abutting relation to the end-body 40.The

arms are resilient and have apertures stamped in them to receive lugs40L molded on the periphery of the end body. The lugs tapper from theshoulder to the surface of the endbody so that as the switch unit 60 ispressed against the endbody 40, the arms 690 will slide over theinclined portion of the lugs until the aperture is fully in registerwith the lugs, at which time the arms will snap toward the body 60 asthe lugs move into the apertures in the arm 69a. The switch unit is thusheld against the end of the end-body 40 as shown in FIG. 1. It will thusbe seen that the components of force of the spring arms 69a press inopposite directions and equalize each other.

The switch body 62 is provided with lugs 62L similar to the lugs 40L sothat another switch unit like 60 can be added to and attached to theswitch unit 60.

The switch unit can be easily detached by flexing the arm 69a out todisengage the lugs 40L.

For actuating the switch, the plunger 50 has an extension 51 extendingout of the end-body 40 coaxially in position to enter the coaxialopening in the switch body 60.

For moving the plunger 50 an extension 52 is formed on its inner end,i.e., the end opposite the extension I. Plunger 50 is adapted to belatched in depressed position (by means about to be described) and isshown as latched in depressed position in FIG. 5 (and also in thediagrammatic FIGS. b and b of FIG. II). The depression of the plungeroccurs when the actuating member 30 engages the end of inward extension52' of the plunger.

To latch the plunger 50 in depressed position on the first depression, apair of hairpin type latch and release springs 53 and 54, respectively,are seated in a shallow recess in the endbody 40 in the end face thereofwhich is adjacent the shell 20. These springs are located in the sameplane side by side. Each has its U-part hooked around a short circularpost 57, 58, respectively, which are spaced apart and extend up from thebottom of the aforesaid shallow recess in the end face of the end-body40. One leg 53', 54', respectively of each spring, is anchored in aslot, 55 and 56, respectively, formed in the recess.

The locking spring 53 is stronger than the release spring 54 and has aright angle bend 53' in its free leg whose extremity abuts the free leg54 of the release spring. Three positions of the springs are illustratedin FIG. 4. Position a (shown in full lines) is an initial ON-latchedposition prior to depression of the push button. Position b shown indotted lines is the latching position after the first depression of thepush button. Position 0 is a latch releasing position occurring when thepush button is depressed a second time.

Equivalent positions of the parts are shown in the FIG. 11diagrammatically.

In order that the latch spring leg 53 can hold the plunger 50 down afterit has been depressed, a latching shoulder 52s (FIG. II) is fonned onone side of the plunger extension 52 facing toward the actuator 30. Theside surface 520 of plunger extension 52 between the shoulder 52v andthe main body of the plunger is inclined so as to act with a cam actionon the leg 53' of the latch spring when the button, actuator, andplunger are jointly depressed, pushing the leg 53' aside against itsspring bias until the-shoulder 52c is reached. The leg 52.: snaps overthe shoulder and holds the plunger 50 depressed as in the position b ofFIG. 11 (equivalent to the position b in FIG. 4).

When the finger pressure is released from the button 23, the actuator 30will rise under the urge of its biasing spring 35 as diagrammaticallyshown in position b of FIG. 11, and will push the button up to itsoriginal position of FIG. 2.

To keep the release spring54 out of action during the first depressionof the plunger, dual cam surfaces 34, 34". are formed on the end ofextension 34 of the actuating member 30, forming a peaked cam.

On the first depression of the actuating member 34, the cam surface 34'engages and pushes aside the leg 54' from the position a to position bof FIG. 11. This keeps the release spring out of action.

On the second depression of the actuating member starting from positionb of FIG. 11, the cam surface 34 engages spring leg 54 pushing it to theleft into position c of FIG. 11 (and in FIG. 4 from the position a tothe position c) during which leg 54' engages the bent end of leg 53' andpushes the leg 53' out of engagement with shoulder 52: of the plunger inposition c of FIG. 11, permitting the plunger to rise with the actuatingmember 34 as manual pressure on the push button 23, is released. Thisrestores the parts to position a of FIGS. 1 l and 4.

Since the latch and release springs 53, 54 are relatively thin, aninsulating disc or cover 58 (see FIG. 2) is placed over the springs andseats in the shallow recess in the inner face of the end-body 40.

What is claimed is:

1. Electric switching apparatus comprising insulating housing means,actuating means slidably mounted in said housing means, plunger means inone end of said housing means, push button means extending out the otherend of said housing and depressible to cause axial movement of saidplunger means, said push button means and said plunger means beingformed separately from said actuating means, and said plunger meansbeing movable independently of said actuating means, a switching unitattachable to an end of said housing means in position to be operated bysaid plunger means, fixed and movable contact means in said switchingunit, a movable contact actuator having a projection beyond one end ofsaid switch unit, and means on said switch unit and said housing meansincluding spring finger means on one of said parts and shoulder means onthe other of said parts engaged by said finger means interengaging toenable connection and separation of those parts by axial manual pullingand pushing respectively, without disassembly thereof, and a secondswitch unit like the first said switch unit operable by said movableactuator of said first unit, and detachable interengaging means connecting said first and second units together, said detachableinterengaging means being like the means connecting saidfirst switchunit and said housing means in both form and location, whereby thepositions of said units are interchangeable with respect to said housingmeans and to each other along a stack and whereby another switch unitmay be directly connected to said housing means or inserted in a stackwithout the interfering with previously attached units.

2. Electric switching apparatus comprising insulation housing means,actuating means slidably mounted in said housing means, plunger means inone end of said housing means, push button means extending out the otherend of said housing and depressible to cause axial movement of saidplunger means, a switching unit attachable to an end of said housingmeans in position to be operated by said plunger means, and means onsaid unit and said housing means interengaging to enable connection andseparation without disassembly thereof, by axial manual pushing andpulling respectively, said attached switching unit having fixed andmovable contact means, a movable contact actuator having a projectionbeyond one end of the unit, and a second unit like the first said unitoperable by said movable actuator of said first unit, and detachableinterengaging means connecting said first and second units together,said detachable interengaging means being like the means connecting saidfirst switch unit and said housing means, in both form and location,whereby the positions of said units are interchangeable with respect tosaid housing means and to each other along a stack and whereby another 5switch unit may be directly connected to said housing means or insertedin a stack without the interfering with previously attached units.

i I i i

1. Electric switching apparatus comprising insulating housing means,actuating means slidably mounted in said housing means, plunger means inone end of said housing means, push button means extending out the otherend of said housing and depressible to cause axial movement of saidplunger means, said push button means and said plunger means beingformed separately from said actuating meAns, and said plunger meansbeing movable independently of said actuating means, a switching unitattachable to an end of said housing means in position to be operated bysaid plunger means, fixed and movable contact means in said switchingunit, a movable contact actuator having a projection beyond one end ofsaid switch unit, and means on said switch unit and said housing meansincluding spring finger means on one of said parts and shoulder means onthe other of said parts engaged by said finger means interengaging toenable connection and separation of those parts by axial manual pullingand pushing respectively, without disassembly thereof, and a secondswitch unit like the first said switch unit operable by said movableactuator of said first unit, and detachable interengaging meansconnecting said first and second units together, said detachableinterengaging means being like the means connecting said first switchunit and said housing means in both form and location, whereby thepositions of said units are interchangeable with respect to said housingmeans and to each other along a stack and whereby another switch unitmay be directly connected to said housing means or inserted in a stackwithout the interfering with previously attached units.
 2. Electricswitching apparatus comprising insulation housing means, actuating meansslidably mounted in said housing means, plunger means in one end of saidhousing means, push button means extending out the other end of saidhousing and depressible to cause axial movement of said plunger means, aswitching unit attachable to an end of said housing means in position tobe operated by said plunger means, and means on said unit and saidhousing means interengaging to enable connection and separation withoutdisassembly thereof, by axial manual pushing and pulling respectively,said attached switching unit having fixed and movable contact means, amovable contact actuator having a projection beyond one end of the unit,and a second unit like the first said unit operable by said movableactuator of said first unit, and detachable interengaging meansconnecting said first and second units together, said detachableinterengaging means being like the means connecting said first switchunit and said housing means, in both form and location, whereby thepositions of said units are interchangeable with respect to said housingmeans and to each other along a stack and whereby another switch unitmay be directly connected to said housing means or inserted in a stackwithout the interfering with previously attached units.